Those skilled in the art of vehicle brakes and, more particularly, aircraft brakes are familiar with the fact that a torque tube is maintained in juxtaposition to a braked wheel for receipt of a brake disk stack having alternating interleaved stator and rotor disks which are engaged and disengaged by a brake assembly that includes a brake housing secured to the torque tube. In the prior art, a composite material thermal insulator has been interposed between the brake housing and the torque tube, which are held together by multiple bolts. The bolts are in tension and the housing, insulator and torque tube are compressed slightly from the bolt preload. When the brakes are actuated, the brake housing pistons press against the brake disk stack, placing additional loads on these components. Bolt tension increases and compression of the housing, insulator and torque tube decreases. As the brakes are repeatedly applied and released, fluctuating stresses arise in the components. If the magnitude and number of fluctuations are sufficiently high, fatigue failure can occur. This is due, in large part, to the relatively low stiffness of the insulator composite material. Further, in the prior art structures, the insulator directly contacted the torque tube, which gave rise to the possibility of damage to the insulator due to excessive bearing and sheer stress from the torque tube.
The prior art is devoid of an interface between the brake housing and torque tube that stiffens the joint to minimize the likelihood of failure by fatigue, while maintaining the desired thermal insulation characteristics between the brake housing and torque tube, and while further precluding the sharp edges and small bearing area that characterize the mating face of the torque tube from damaging the material interposed at the interface.